


If I Didn't Have You

by rebeccaofsbfarm



Series: First Kiss Week [4]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buddie First Kiss Week 2020, Disneyland, FKW, Fake Proposal, M/M, i think i got a cavity writing this one guys, prompt: accidental, prompt: on a dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebeccaofsbfarm/pseuds/rebeccaofsbfarm
Summary: Eddie groans, but he gets down on his knee, setting their beers on the pavement. He works to unknot the laces, then ties them again. He goes to stand, but Buck stops him with a hand on his shoulder.“Eddie…” he looks up to see that Buck’s eyes are the size of dinner plates. He leans on his knee, trying to understand why Buck is so flustered, and then he hears the shutter of a camera. In his peripheral, he sees that a crowd has gathered around them, and half of the people have their phones out, recording.Eddie’s eyes connect with Buck’s, and while he is panicked, Buck is trying so hard not to laugh that there are tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. The crowd must see it and misread it as Buck being overcome with emotion, because they coo in response.“Fuck,” Eddie curses under his breath, quiet enough that only Buck can hear him. “What do I do here?”Buck snorts, “Sorry man, I think you’ve got to commit now.”
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: First Kiss Week [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765291
Comments: 69
Kudos: 882





	If I Didn't Have You

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [If I Didn't Have You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25241722) by [missdistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdistress/pseuds/missdistress)



> Your girl loves a trope, so this revolves around an accidental proposal that quickly devolved into Disneyland chaos. Because most of the story takes place at Pixar Pier, I figured I'd name the fic after a Pixar song. Enjoy.

_**(Beautiful!!!!) Cover Banner by[Ro_Nordmann](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro_Nordmann/pseuds/Ro_Nordmann)** _

* * *

“Leave it to you to find the healthiest, most obscure foods at the Food & Wine Festival,” Eddie teases Buck, openly glaring at his basket of fried artichokes. He’d already finished a serving of compressed watermelon and tomato with whipped ricotta and lemon olive oil, whatever the hell that meant.

Eddie had settled on Asian-style beef baracoa street tacos and had already finished them, so he was carrying their craft beers as they made their way from the festival staging area into the rest of the park.

“’s good.” Buck lifts the basket, his fingers covered in lemon aioli and still chewing, “You want some?”

“Not just now Buck,” he declines, rolling his eyes. Buck had convinced him to accompany him to the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, and he had done plenty of mouth service to convince Christopher that there was indeed an event at Disneyland that was only for grownups. Eventually he had promised that if he was good for his abuela for this overnight stay, he would get to go to Disneyland for some quality kid time next month.

Buck, also a child, had convinced Eddie to wear their Disney shirts regardless, so Eddie was wearing a costume shirt that made him look like Woody, and Buck was wearing the Buzz Lightyear version of the same shirt. Usually, Chris would be there dressed as the alien, but just this once they had left him at home. Buck had explained that while he loved taking Chris to Disneyland, Eddie deserved to let loose a little, and the booze at this thing was supposed to be top notch.

Admittedly, he has gotten a little buzzed. He and Buck had been sharing fruity drinks for a couple hours now, and they eventually make the switch to beer before deciding to take a break to find some rides. Buck still hasn’t finished his artichokes, and swears he can walk with them, but it certainly slows their pace. Eddie guides him toward Pixar Pier. He’d promised Buck at least one Instagram photo in the shirts, and the Pixar-themed area seems like the place to do it.

They round a corner, and now they’re in sight of the giant Ferris wheel, recently named the Pixar Pal-a-Round, though it still has its iconic Mickey Mouse at the center of the wheel. Behind them is Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, which he’s willing to put off until Chris is with them, and Buck is just ahead of him, absently eating his artichokes. Eddie looks him up and down and notices that his shoe is untied. His dad reflexes set in, and he calls out to get Buck’s attention.

Buck stops to allow him to catch up, and Eddie motions to his untied shoelace. They move out of the way of the crowds, into the center of a plaza along the waterfront in Paradise Gardens Park where there’s a little more space. He offers to take Buck’s food, but Buck impishly smiles around one of his artichokes.

“Please?” he pleads, lifting his foot for emphasis and nodding at the ground. “My fingers are all greasy.”

Eddie groans, but he gets down on his knee, setting their beers on the pavement. He works to unknot the laces, then ties them again. He goes to stand, but Buck stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Eddie…” he looks up to see that Buck’s eyes are the size of dinner plates. He leans on his knee, trying to understand why Buck is so flustered, and then he hears the shutter of a camera. In his peripheral, he sees that a crowd has gathered around them, and half of the people have their phones out, recording.

Eddie’s eyes connect with Buck’s, and while he is panicked, Buck is trying so hard not to laugh that there are tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. The crowd must see it and misread it as Buck being overcome with emotion, because they coo in response.

“Fuck,” Eddie curses under his breath, quiet enough that only Buck can hear him. “What do I do here?”

Buck snorts, “Sorry man, I think you’ve got to commit now.”

It would be too obvious for him to roll his eyes, but Buck can read his expression well enough. Quietly, he groans, before looking up carefully, finding Buck’s eyes as he clears his throat and asks, “Well, what do you think? Buck, will you marry me?”

Buck wheedles for a moment, enjoying the spotlight, and he bites his bottom lip nervously before nodding, “Yeah, I think I will.”

A cheer goes up around them, and Buck reaches to help Eddie off the ground. He pulls him up and against his chest, before whispering, “Don’t hate me, but we’ve got to sell this. Too many people are watching. We can’t disappoint them.”

“What do you me—” Eddie doesn’t have time to process before he is cut off by Buck’s lips against his, the basket of artichokes still crushed between them, and it takes a moment for him to catch his breath. Buck has an occupied hand, but his other hand takes Eddie by the hip, pulling him closer. Eddie is struck dumb, but slowly his body catches up, his hands reaching out to bracket Buck’s face as he melts against him. Buck slots their lips together, and it’s unexpected, but he is an _incredible_ kisser.

Gently, Buck uses his basket of artichokes to put some space between them, and Eddie is stunned to find the sense of loss he feels when Buck pulls away. His lips are kiss-swollen and smiling, and Eddie has to resist the urge to kiss him again.

The kiss had seemed too short, but by the time they step away from it, most of the crowd has moved on. A Disney cast member hovers, waiting until Buck acknowledges her to approach.

“Hey, lots of people get engaged here so I try to have a couple of these on me,” she says, rifling in her pocket and pulling out two round pins that say _Happily Ever After_. She pulls a silver Sharpie out of the same pocket and writes the date on the face of it, before handing one to each of them. “Congratulations! Can I see the ring?”

Eddie is startled, realizes that he has no answer for her question, but Buck is quick to provide one, “Well, we’re first responders, so neither of us really wears jewelry.”

“You should get some of those silicone ones at least,” she says, and Buck nods as if he’ll take it under advisement, pinning the badge to his shirt. “Hey, before I go, do you want me to take a picture? I got a few of the proposal, just in case, if you want those too.”

Eddie opens his mouth to shrug her off, but Buck interrupts him, handing her his phone, “Please! That would be great!”

Finally, Buck throws his basket out, licking the last of the grease off his fingers, before reaching out for Eddie, pulling him against his side with a secure arm around his waist He insists that Eddie put his badge on, so he does, before draping his arm across Buck’s, his hand tucked against Buck’s side. The cast member, whose name tag ironically reads “Chris”, gestures at them to move over, and when Eddie looks over his shoulder, he sees that she’s positioning them in front of the Ferris wheel. He has to admit that it makes quite the background.

He releases his grip on Buck’s arm once the picture is taken, but Buck pulls him back in for another, “Please, just one more, _babe_?”

He leans in and kisses Eddie on the cheek, and Eddie feels heat fill his face from the point of contact. Chris takes another picture, and then she airdrops the proposal photos from her own phone to Buck’s. He thanks her again, and she waves at them as she walks off.

Eddie tries to get Buck’s attention, but he’s engrossed by the photos on his phone. Curiously, Eddie looks over his shoulder to see the photos. Her pictures of the proposal have captured the impishness in Buck’s expression, and the submission in his, and they’re framed beautifully against the Ferris wheel and the bright blue sky. Buck scrolls to the photos that she had just taken for them. Eddie has to admit that the one of Buck’s lips pressed to his cheek, and his begrudging smile in response, is rather cute.

He remembers the badge pinned to his chest, and moves to take it off, “Guess we don’t need these anymore.”

“Come on,” Buck says, stilling his hand with his own. “Leave it on.”

“Why should I?” Eddie asks, and it’s a bit of a challenge. He is still reeling from how easily Buck kissed him, and he has to know he isn’t the only one feeling adrift.

“Be my fiancé,” Buck says, and he’s so quiet that Eddie would have missed it if they weren’t standing this close. “Just for today. Let me have just this one day, for people to think someone like you could fall for me.”

Buck bends over, picks up their beers and hands Eddie his. Eddie takes a sip, before asking cautiously, “Someone like me?”

“Handsome, passionate, eight-pack abs,” Buck answers, barely tolerating him. He gestures over his body, “You know, this whole package you’re working with. And don’t get me started on the cute kid.”

“You really do love my kid,” Eddie agrees.

Buck nods against the lip of his bottle, “I really do.”

Eddie nudges him with his shoulder, and focuses again on the first part of Buck’s confession, “Wait, did you just call me handsome?”

“You’re insufferable,” Buck groans, shifting away from him, but Eddie catches him by the wrist and forces him to stay and answer for his sins.

Eddie smiles, preening, “You think I’m handsome.”

“Well, I would hope so,” Buck confirms begrudgingly. “We are engaged, after all.”

“That’s true,” Eddie agrees, and he accepts the dare, reaching out to take Buck’s hand. Buck seems surprised, but his fingers curl against Eddie’s palm in acceptance. “To the pier?”

“To the pier,” Buck agrees, and they finish their beers, tossing them in the trash as they make their way to Pixar Pier. Buck insists that they ride the Incredicoaster before anything else, as the lines can be long, so they make their way to the line.

It’s nearly twenty minutes later when Buck admits, “We probably should have FASTPASS-ed this one, huh?”

“Can’t FASTPASS everything,” Eddie reasons. “Besides, hopefully you can digest some of those artichokes before this thing makes you nauseous.”

Buck makes a mocking face, “I don’t _always_ get nauseous.”

“You do,” Eddie argues. “I rode enough of these things with you when you were getting over your fear of them after…well, _shit_ , nevermind.”

Eddie realizes too late that he’s brought up a dark moment from Buck’s past on such a beautiful day. He didn’t know Buck until long after the rollercoaster incident, but he knows that he still carries the trauma of it. He’d stumbled headlong into it the first time Buck had gone with them to the pier, avoiding anything with a track, and it was Eddie who had coaxed him back onto his favorite rides. It had taken time, but Buck seemed to be coping well, and he’d been so excited to ride this one that Eddie hopes he hasn’t ruined it.

“It’s okay,” Buck soothes him. “I’ve looked up all the statistics, and this coaster is reasonably safe. The restraints are over the shoulders, so it’s harder for a body to slip out of them. I like my odds.”

Eddie still reaches out, stroking his bicep with his thumb in apology. There’s an older dad-type in front of them, and he seems to be watching them. Eddie catches him looking at their badges and readies himself to defend Buck.

“Can I help you?” he asks, already feeling defensive. Buck seems confused by his sudden confrontation but listens for what the man has to say.

He looks surprised that Eddie has called him out, but then he smiles carefully, gesturing to their buttons, “Are you newlyweds?”

“Engaged,” Buck answers for him, obviously not trusting Eddie’s tone, and his smile radiates the joy in his answer. “Earlier today actually.”

“Congratulations!” he says, and he looks delighted for them. “I’m sorry I was staring. My wife says I can’t keep doing this, but my eldest is gay, and sometimes I worry about him. When I was his age, gay folks had to hide who they were, so it warms my heart to see guys like you just out there being happy and together. It gives me hope for my son.”

Eddie’s mouth hangs open, deflated, but Buck steps forward, tangling his fingers in Eddie’s, claiming him, “It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it for the right person. I’m sure your son will find that person someday. And until he does, man, he’s lucky to have you.”

“I do my best. I want him to know how much I love him, so I’m trying to educate myself. Can I ask? What did you propose with? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I know that’s private.”

He looks between them curiously, not sure who had done the proposing, and Eddie is suddenly self-conscious. This ring thing seems to be nagging at people.

“A churro?” Buck answers, giving Eddie a side-glance, and the man laughs, a full fatherly guffaw. “Honestly, it was a little unexpected, and I think he was improvising. But we’re firefighters, so I would probably lose a ring anyway.”

“You’re firefighters? So is my son!” he says, “He’s in San Diego. Where are you boys?”

“Los Angeles,” Eddie finally finds his voice. He looks over at Buck for just a moment, sees him beaming with pride at his _ownership_ of Eddie. “That’s how we met, actually. At work.”

“Well I’m looking forward to telling my son that. He always says he’s never going to meet somebody. ‘I’m the only gay firefighter, dad’ he tells me. Wait till I tell him about this. I’m going to text him,” he says, pulling out his phone before he turns, seemingly to repeat all of this to his wife, who is ahead of him in line. She nods at them as if to say, ‘ _sorry, he does this’_ , but she has no reason to apologize because the man’s wholesome curiosity has brightened their day. Eddie almost forgets that they aren’t really a couple.

When they reach the front of the line, he sees a moment of apprehension on Buck’s face as they take their seats in the vehicle, but Eddie takes his hand and squeezes, then helps him secure the restraint over his chest. It’s much more secure than the failed restraints at the accident scene, but he still sees a mental checklist cross over Buck’s eyes as they ready for the ride to accelerate.

He seems nervous for the first hill, but then gives in to the adrenaline as they swoop through the air, lifting off their seats. It doesn’t take long for Buck to raise his arms, howling into the breeze, and they eventually crash through a water feature, spraying their arms and faces with water droplets. Soon, blink-and-it’s-over fast, they’re returning to the loading dock, and Buck is panting with exhilaration. Eddie is chuckling, but he’s out of breath himself, and he looks over, suddenly enamored by the joy on Buck’s face. He reaches out to take his hand again as they head to the next attraction, and realizes that the attraction he’s most focused on isn’t any of the rides at the park.

* * *

This had been a weird day. He can’t forget the look on Eddie’s face, already exasperated and kneeling on the ground, when he realized what was happening. Buck had seen as people turned to look at them, noticed them taking out their phones to film what they thought was a proposal. Eddie had looked embarrassed at first, but once they determined there was only once course of action, he certainly rose to the occasion. The celebration of the crowd, as if it had been a real proposal, still had him glowing. And _that kiss_.

Now Eddie is gamely holding his hand, leading him across to the other side of the pier, “Why did you have to say churro? Now I want one.”

They find the nearest churro booth, which happens to be called Señor Buzz Churros, and before they get in line, it’s Eddie that insists they take a selfie with the sign behind them. Buck is surprised when Eddie gathers him from behind, his head tucked into Buck’s shoulder and his arms around his waist, and Buck reaches out to take the selfie. He looks at it, approves, and is about to post it, but Eddie directs him to take another.

He waits until Buck has repositioned his arm, then presses his lips to Buck’s temple, and Buck squints in shock. He accidentally takes another photo, he’s not sure of what, and then Eddie releases him.

“Can you get in line? I’ve got to grab something,” he says, and before Buck can respond he jogs away. He shrugs and takes a look at the photos. The first is sweet, but safe, friendly but for Eddie’s arms around him, which can easily be cropped. He looks at the second and feels his heart squeeze in his chest when he sees his own bliss reflected in his expression. He scrolls to the third so he can delete it, but instead he is distracted by the look on Eddie’s face, gazing affectionately at him.

Just then, he receives a text from his sister, and he checks to see what has her using all caps. He opens the text, which is just a link to Instagram and the word WHAT with about a thousand question marks after it.

He opens the Instagram video and is immediately struck. Somebody has posted Eddie’s “proposal” to Instagram. It’s all there, just as he remembers it, but now he can see it from an outsider’s perspective, him standing there holding his basket of fried artichokes, smiling wide and trying not to laugh, and Eddie mortified but accepting, as Buck loudly announces his “answer”. Then he watches as they kiss, and he sees how Eddie falls into him, reluctant but willing.

He moves distractedly through the line, and when he makes it to the window he can’t decide between the Caliente and the Cinnamon-Sugar options, so he buys one of each. He finds a place to lean against the railing that surrounds the body of water at the center of the park and waits for Eddie to return. It takes him a few minutes to come up with a response to Maddie, before he unconvincingly types, “How did you find that?”

“You’ve been posting food all day. All I had to do was click the event tag you dingus. But that doesn’t answer my question?????”

“It’s all just a big misunderstanding,” he types, then he pockets his phone as Eddie approaches. His sister will have to wait.

He’s got a small shopping bag with him, and when he gets to the railing, he trades Buck the bag for a churro, “Got you something. Go ahead and open it.”

Buck hands him the second churro so he can use both hands to open the bag. Inside is a small box, and he opens it to find a silver band with a gem in the center shaped like Mickey Mouse. Buck chuckles as he takes it out of the packaging.

“What is this?” he asks, and he’s afraid to put it on, even though he’s fully aware that is its purpose.

Eddie shifts the second churro between the fingers of his left hand, next to the other one, so he can take the ring from Buck. He motions to him to lie his hand flat so he can slide the ring onto his finger, “People keep asking about the ring. This is all I could find on short notice.”

“You didn’t have to do this,” Buck evades, but his stomach fills with butterflies as he says it. “It’s too much.”

“Hey, what kind of fiancé would I be if I didn’t get you a ring?” Eddie argues, and he hands Buck back one of the churros. Buck uses the pad of his thumb to twist the band around his ring finger, and he’s distracted enough that he doesn’t notice Eddie lean forward to take a bite of his churro. “Oh man, can we trade? That spicy one is good.”

Buck smirks, trading him and biting into his own cinnamon-sugar churro, “Fine, but I’m getting you something too.”

They walk down the pier until they find the boardwalk games, and each booth has its own souvenir prize. Glancing at each in turn, Buck walks over to the La Luna game and returns with his prize, a stuffed star, “You can give it to Christopher, but at least you’ll have something to remember me by.”

“What, are you planning on going somewhere?” Eddie asks, his voice hesitant, and Buck can hear a sense of panic in his voice.

“No,” Buck corrects himself. “But I guess I just want to remember this day. How nice it was to be together. I want you to have something that reminds you of it.”

“I don’t need a souvenir to remind me Buck,” he says, nudging him with his shoulder, “I’ll have you to remind me.”

“Yeah, but not like this.”

Something passes between them, something he can’t put words to, so instead he fills the space with insignificant ones, “Ready for the next ride?”

Eddie nods at the Ferris wheel, “Can you handle the swinging gondolas?”

“It was one churro Eddie, I think I can handle it,” he says, and he dusts the cinnamon sugar off of his hands, before leading the way to the line for the Pixar Pal-a-Round.

It’s miraculously short today, and Buck spends the short time in line admiring the ring on his finger. It can’t escape Eddie’s notice, but he doesn’t mention it.

When they get into the gondola, they climb in to sit on opposite sides, and the gondola is already swaying in the breeze. Now it’s Eddie’s turn to look a little hesitant. Buck remembers Eddie telling him about scaling a Ferris wheel during the tsunami. He remembers seeing the Ferris wheel before the wave hit, and this one seems far more stable. It dwarfs the one on the Santa Monica Pier.

The doors of the gondola close and they start to move. Eddie seems to settle into his seat as they get higher, and Buck relaxes too. Eddie is looking out from the vantage point provided by the plexiglass windows, but Buck can only look at Eddie. They sway back and forth, and there’s nothing to hold onto, so a particular hard gust sends Buck sprawling across the gondola and against Eddie. He clumsily moves to return to his seat, but Eddie stops him.

The air stills between them, and Eddie is holding him by his bicep as he half kneels between the two seats of the gondola. Their faces are only inches apart, and Eddie’s eyes descend from his eyes to his lips, seeming to consider something.

“Eddie?” he asks, for clarification, but Eddie’s only answer is to close the distance between them, pressing his lips to Buck’s, his breath catching in his throat. Buck can feel Eddie’s fingers pressing into his muscle as he deepens the kiss, his tongue playing at the close of Buck’s lips until they part. This kiss is different than the last. This is experimental. This is curious. This is the pent-up desire of years of avoidance and the promise of _more_.

Eddie has inadvertently pushed them to the opposite side of the carriage, and the gondola sways awkwardly in the wind, unbalanced, so they move to center themselves, meeting between the two seats, each sitting on edge, to continue kissing tentatively, exploring this new and intoxicating feeling.

Somehow they manage to stop before the doors open, but Buck can see that Eddie is flushed, and he knows that he must look similarly flustered, so he can’t look the attendant in the eyes when he notices their badges and congratulates them.

They take a round at Toy Story Midway Mania, and they don’t discuss what happened at the Ferris wheel, not yet, but as Eddie hits the targets, shooting with his right hand, his left hand settles on Buck’s thigh. Buck is pretty sure he misses every shot. When they leave the darkness of the ride, they realize that it’s dusk, which means that it’s nearly time for the World of Color light show.

“We should go to the other side,” Buck directs, motioning across the body of water in front of them. He’s double-timing now, not wanting to miss the best vantage point, and Eddie reaches out to take his hand so he doesn’t lose him in the crowd. For a moment, it stops Buck in his tracks, but then Eddie is pulling him, trying to find space before the show starts.

They find a place near where Eddie had proposed earlier, and Eddie settles into his side, his arm slack along the small of his back. He leans his head against Buck’s shoulder, and as the projections begin, he absentmindedly says, “Chris would love this.”

Buck leans against the top of his head and nods, “Finding Nemo is his favorite. Do we have to wait until next month to bring him?”

Eddie shrugs, “I mean, we could move it up. Might be a good way to tell him.”

“Way to tell him what?” Buck asks, and Eddie’s fingers trail across his back and down his forearm until they tangle in his. Buck’s breath catches in his throat as he feels Eddie’s fingertips against his palm.

Eddie shifts so they’re facing each other, still holding his hand. He takes a deep breath before asking, “What if this was real, Buck?”

“This?” he asks, afraid to fill in the blanks for himself. His brain short circuits with the effort of not getting carried away. He already feels afloat. A strong breeze could blow him over.

“You and me,” Eddie confirms, and he gently finds Buck’s eyes, forcing him to look into his own. “Today has been _unforgettable_. I don’t want us to go back to the way things were tomorrow. I want to feel like this, every day, with you.”

The music swells to the tune of “A Whole New World”, and it seems fitting, because Buck feels something coming unmoored inside him, like his whole world has become larger instantaneously. Eddie takes his other hand now, and if he hadn’t already proposed once today, Buck would suspect he was about to get down on one knee.

“I certainly would not have proposed today if my hand hadn’t been forced, but I also don’t want to take it back. It feels so right being your fiancé. I don’t think I can demote myself to just being your boyfriend. And frankly, I don’t want to.”

Buck hesitates, and the words he wants to say are lost in the sounds of the crowd and the music blasting from the speakers nearby. Eddie takes his silence as rejection and begins to nervously fill the silence.

“I’ll get you a better ring?” Eddie offers, as if that’s what’s stopping him. “Like a real one that costs more than a hundred dollars.”

“Don’t you dare,” Buck shakes his head, the first sign of his agreement, and he twists the ring around his finger, “I want this one.”

“Keep it then,” Eddie instructs him, and he folds his hand around Buck’s then brings his knuckles to his mouth to kiss them. “Let’s just pretend this wasn’t pretend.”

“Can we do that?” Buck laughs, and now Eddie is dragging him against his chest. There’s a buoyance to it that he’s not used to seeing. It’s almost as if Eddie is…in love.

“We can if you say so,” Eddie reminds him, but then his voice settles into something low and serious. “Evan Buckley. Marry me?”

It’s a ridiculous request. They’d only kissed for the first time today, and the ring Eddie had bought him was from a gift shop. But he’d been in love with Eddie for so long that he couldn’t say when he started. They’d been together in all other ways but this, and he can’t think of a better answer than the one pressing against his teeth, begging to be said.

“Yes,” he says, and he drags Eddie against him by his waist. His kiss is desperate, telling Eddie everything his words cannot. Eddie smiles against his lips, his fingers skimming the hair behind Buck’s ears. “ _God_ , yes.”

Eddie is chuckling into the kiss, and Buck finds that it’s contagious, joining him until Eddie suddenly curses and pats down his pockets. Buck realizes that it’s been hours since he’s checked on Christopher. He looks at the screen, and glances up at Buck, confused.

“Have you been answering your texts?” he asks, and Buck shakes his head. He’d silenced his phone after Maddie had sent him that video. _The video_.

While he and Eddie had been figuring things out, Maddie had gotten impatient, and with no answer from Buck she had turned to the 118 group chat. The resulting chaos was evident when he unlocked his phone to more than a hundred notifications. Maddie had also helpfully tagged him in the video on Instagram, which meant that people he didn’t even know were liking his posts.

“Did I forget to mention that somebody put a video of you proposing on Instagram, and Maddie found it?” Buck admits, knowing that he had indeed forgotten. Eddie’s eyes go wide, and he checks the group chat. The frustration of ignorance has obviously gotten to them, and Chim and Maddie are dissecting the meaning of his last text, word by word.

He takes pity and starts a video call, not sure if anyone will pick up. The crowds are still loud and there’s music playing in the background. It’s dark enough that the rainbow of projections from the World of Color show are staining the lights and shadows of his face. Immediately, the faces of his friends appear on his screen, and they’re all speaking at once, an unintelligible roar of excitement.

Buck extends his right arm and pulls Eddie to his left side, just barely tolerating Buck’s usual nonsense, “Hey, we can’t be long, we just want to give you a little update,” he says, and he swings his left hand over Eddie’s shoulder, his ring finger visible, “there’s a lot to tell you, but we just wanted you guys to know what’s up.”

Before anyone can interrogate them, he hangs up, turning into Eddie and kissing him again, pleased to know he can. The music dims, and the finale bursts in front of them. With the show over, people start to amble toward the exits, and Buck is back on his phone, tapping away.

“Can you call your abuela and your parents on the way to the hotel?” he asks, and Eddie twists his face, wondering what’s so important that it can’t wait until they’re on the shuttle. “I want to post something, and I don’t want them to find out through the grapevine.”

“What are you going to post?” Eddie asks, and he leans to get a better look at Buck’s screen.

Buck lifts his phone, his screen blinding Eddie for a moment before it clears. It’s the photo of them at the churro stand, and Buck carousels through the series, all three pictures, and he watches as Eddie sees them for the first time, especially the last one when Eddie is looking at him so longingly. He waits until Eddie nods, then scrolls so he can read the caption.

“He’s mine forever. To infinity and beyond. #californiaadventure #dcafwf #isaidyes”


End file.
